Hand-held system for dispensing viscous materials from a flexible pouch and methods of accomplishing the same

ABSTRACT

A dispensing system and method dispensing flowable materials is disclosed. The system includes a hand-holdable dispensing gun, a holder assembly and a flexible pouch holding a flowable material for dispensing metered amounts of that material. The pouch includes an end portion, which is configured to be torn open to create a mouth for the pouch. The holder assembly includes a tubular member having an outlet including a valve. The tubular member has an open end through which the pouch can be introduced and then a piston cover can then be located in the tubular member to hold the pouch in place. The dispensing gun includes a piston to engage the piston cover and force it into engagement with the pouch to eject a metered amount of the flowable material out of the valve upon each actuation of a trigger of the dispensing gun.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This utility application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) ofProvisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/974,542, filed on Apr. 3,2014, entitled Hand-Held Systems For Dispensing Viscous Materials From AFlexible Pouch And Methods Of Accomplishing The Same. The entiredisclosure of that provisional application is incorporated by referenceherein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to dispensing systems and more particularly forsystems or dispensing flowable materials from a flexible pouch.

Some fast food businesses make use of a hand-held dispenser to dispenseflowable viscous food products, such as condiments, to the fast foodthat they offer. The viscous food product, e.g., sour cream, is heldwithin a paperboard tube that is inserted into what amounts to a“caulking gun” type of dispenser to dispense metered amounts of theproduct onto the food served. While such a caulking gun-paperboard tubedispensing system is generally suitable for its intended purpose, it isdesired to replace the paperboard tube with a system which will reducethe packaging costs and the amount of used packaging waste.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,373 (Christine) discloses a portable dispensingsystem making use of a dispenser for receipt of a fitment-less pouchholding a flowable material, e.g., a condiment. The pouch includes amain body made of a flexible material and a discharge portion which isintegral with the main body. The dispenser is in the form of a hollowbody with two ends. A head is removably mounted on one end of the bodyand has an opening therethrough. A piston mechanism is removably mountedat the other end of the body. A valve mechanism for opening in responseto pressure created by the piston mechanism is mounted on the headadjacent the opening. The valve mechanism includes a casing, a jawslidably mounted on the casing for movement between an opened and closedposition, and a spring mechanism urging the jaw to the closed positionand yielding to pressure increases in the body. The discharge portion ofthe pouch is arranged to pass through the opening of the head of thedispenser for engagement with the jaw to dispense a metered amount ofthe flowable material.

Other dispensing systems making use of hand-held dispensers in whichflexible pouches containing viscous materials, e.g., condiments, aredisclosed in U.S. Patent. Nos. 5,323,931 (Robards, Jr. et al.) and U.S.Pat. No. 5,634,572 (Lane, Jr. et al.)

While the above identified systems are generally suitable for theirintended purposes, they are rather complex and expensive.

Thus, a need exists for a simple hand-holdable dispensing system whichis simple in construction, easy to use and suitable for dispensingprecise metered amounts of a viscous material, e.g., a condiment, from aflexible pouch upon each actuation of the dispenser's trigger andwithout dripping or oozing of the material from the pouch after eachdispensing operation. Moreover, the system should be capable of enablingthe ready opening of the pouch for the initial dispensing operationwithout any portion of the pouch becoming loose and entering the foodbeing prepared. The subject invention addresses those needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of this invention is a system for dispensing metered amountsof a flowable material from a flexible pouch. The system comprises theflexible pouch, a holder assembly, and a dispensing gun. The pouchcomprises a hollow body formed of a flexible sheet material having apair of panels, each of which includes a pair of side edge portions, afront edge portion and a rear edge portion. The panels are juxtaposedover each other and secured together along their edges to form a hollowinterior for the flowable material. The respective front edge portionsof the two panels are secured together by a seal lines having legsextending at a predetermined angle to each other to form a taperingpassageway therebetween. The pouch is configured to be opened byremoving a portion of it along respective superimposed lines provided inthe panels and intersecting the passageway to form a mouth for thepouch. The holder assembly comprises a tubular member having a sidewallextending about a hollow interior and front wall having an outletnozzle. The tubular holder includes an open rear portion to expose thehollow interior thereof The pouch is configured for disposition withinthe tubular holder with the mouth of the pouch located at the outletnozzle. The dispensing gun comprises a hollow chamber, a piston and anactuator for moving the piston. The tubular holder with the pouchtherein is configured to be disposed in the hollow chamber of thedispensing gun, with the piston extending through the open rear end ofthe tubular holder to engage the pouch. Actuation of the actuator movesthe piston into engagement with the pouch to force the flowable materialout of the pouch through the mouth and the outlet nozzle to dispense ametered amount of a flowable material from the pouch.

In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the system of thisinvention a valve is provided at the outlet nozzle.

In accordance with another preferred aspect of the system of thisinvention the panels include a pair of aligned notches with thesuperimposed lines extending between those notches to form tear lines,so that the pouch is configured to be torn along the tear lines.

Another aspect of this invention is a method for dispensing meteredamounts of a flowable material from a flexible pouch. The methodbasically entails providing a flexible pouch comprising a hollow bodyformed of a flexible sheet material having a pair of panels securedtogether along their periphery, with one portion of the panels beingforming a tapering passageway mouth to the interior of the package andwith the interior being filled with a flowable material. A portion ofthe pouch is then removed along a line intersecting the tapering portionto form an open mouth of a desired size. The pouch can then beintroduced into an open end of a tubular member of a holder assembly.The tubular member has a sidewall extending about a hollow interior, afront wall having an outlet nozzle, and an open end opposite the outletnozzle. When so introduced the open mouth of the pouch is located at theoutlet nozzle. The holder assembly is then ready to be introduced ahollow chamber of a dispensing gun. The dispensing gun includes a pistonand an actuator for moving the piston. Operating the actuator causes thepiston to apply pressure to the pouch to force the flowable material outof the pouch through the mouth and the outlet nozzle to dispense ametered amount of the flowable material from the pouch.

In accordance with one preferred aspect of the method of this inventionthe removal of a portion of the pouch along the line intersecting thetapering portion to form the open mouth of the desired size isaccomplished by tearing the panels of the pouch along that line.

In accordance with another preferred aspect of the method of thisinvention the line intersecting the tapering portion of the pouch toform the open mouth of the desired size is located at a desiredpreselected distance from an end of said pouch to establish a desiredsize open mouth for said pouch.

In accordance with another preferred aspect of the method of thisinvention the holder assembly includes a valve located at the outletnozzle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of one exemplary embodiment of a dispensingsystem constructed in accordance with this invention, that systembasically comprising a flexible pouch containing a flowable product, ahollow tubular holder assembly in which the pouch is located, and adispensing gun holding the holder assembly for dispensing a meteredamount of the flowable material from the flexible pouch;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, vertical sectional view of a portion of thesystem shown in FIG. 1, namely, the tubular holder assembly and theflexible pouch;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a retaining member forming a portion of theholder assembly;

FIG. 4 is an end view of a valve member forming a portion of the holderassembly;

FIG. 5 is an end view of a hollow holder member forming a portion of theholder assembly;

FIG. 6 is an end view of a piston cover forming a portion of the holderassembly;

FIG. 7 is top plan view of one exemplary embodiment of a pouchconstructed in accordance with this invention and forming a portion ofthe system shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 8 is top plan view of another exemplary embodiment of a pouchconstructed in accordance with this invention that can form a portion ofthe system shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the various figures of the drawing wherein likereference characters refer to like parts, there is shown at 20 in FIG. 1one exemplary embodiment of a dispensing system constructed inaccordance with this invention. The system 20 basically comprises ahand-holdable dispenser in the form of a dispensing gun 22, a flexiblepouch 24 (FIG. 3) containing a viscous flowable product P and a holderassembly 26 for holding the pouch. The details of the dispensing gun 22will be described later. Suffice it for now to state that it can be ofconventional construction, such as that sold by Prince Castle. The gunincludes a hollow chamber 28 configured to receive the holder assembly26 with the flexible pouch 24 therein. The gun includes a movable piston30 to engage the pouch within the holder and a trigger mechanism 32 tomove the piston. The flexible pouch 24 is formed of flexible sheetmaterial, which is sealed, as will be described shortly, to form ahollow interior in which the flowable viscous material P, e.g., acondiment, such as sour cream, is located.

In the exemplary preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1 the pouch includesa mouth, which is initially sealed closed, but is configured to be tornopen. The pouch is configured to be disposed within the holding assemblyand that combination disposed within the dispensing gun and with itsmouth torn open to enable the flowable material to be dispensed inprecisely metered amounts from the pouch through the mouth when thedispensing gun is operated, e.g., its trigger pulled.

One exemplary embodiment of a pouch constructed in accordance with thisinvention is shown in FIG. 7 and basically comprises a hollow bodyformed of a pair of panels 34 of a flexible sheet material, e.g., film.In the embodiment shown the panels are each of rectangular shape andeach is of the same size. The panels are superimposed over each otherand are secured together by various seal lines. The seal lines can beproduced utilizing any conventional sealing or bonding technique, e.g.,heat sealing, ultrasonic sealing, adhesives, etc. In the exemplaryembodiment shown a sheet of flexible material is folded in half at afold line 36 to form the two superimposed panels 34, with the panelsbeing secured together at the fold line 36. The opposite side edge ofthe two superimposed panels is secured together by side edge seal 38.The panels are also secured together along their back edge by a backedge seal 40 and are secured together along their back edge by agenerally V-shaped front edge seal 42. The seal 42 includes a pair oflegs, each of which intersects a respective side edge of the pouch.Together the seal 42 forms a tapering passageway which tapers from theinterior of the package toward the front edge. As will be described indetail later, the tapering passageway is configured to be torn, cut orotherwise severed to form an open mouth for the pouch. Before describingthat action it should be noted that the legs forming the seal 42 neednot be linear. For example, they can be arcuate, so that the taperingpassageway can be in the form of a concave arc of a circle, a concavearc of an oval, or any other shape, so long as the passageway taperstowards an end (e.g., the front edge) of the pouch.

In accordance with one exemplary preferred aspect of this invention thetwo superimposed panels 34 are configured to be torn across the widththereof at the location of the tapering V-shaped seal line 42 to formthe mouth of the pouch. To that end, each of the panels includes a notch44 in its side edge. The two notches 44 define the opposite ends of aweakened tear line 46 in each of the panels 34. Those tear lines aresuperimposed on each other and serve as the line along which the panelscan be torn to create an open mouth of the pouch. The weakened tear linein each panel can be formed by laser scoring. Alternatively, thematerial forming the panels can be made of a film with good directionaltear properties, such as a PE/PA/PE coextrusion so that the panels willtear in the desired direction when a tear is started from the notch ateither end of the tear line.

It should be point out at this juncture that the pouch need not beconstructed as just described to be torn open along the tear line. Thus,if desired the pouch can be constructed to be cut or severed along thesuperimposed tear line, such as by use of a knife or scissors. In such acase the notches can be eliminated and the material making up the panelsalong the tear line need not be weakened. Thus, the tear line in effectbecome a “cut” line.

In any case, the superimposed tear or cut lines are located a desireddistance from the front edge of the superimposed panels so that when thepanels are torn or cut along the tear/cut line a mouth of a desiredwidth is formed in the package. The location of the tear/cut line withrespect to the front edge of the pouch will thus establish the width(size) of the pouch's mouth.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7 two possible widths of the mouthof the pouch are shown by use of two tear lines 46 and 46′ establishedby the aligned notches 44 and 44′, respectively. It should be understoodthat the actual package will only include one aligned pair of notchesand one associated superimposed tear line, with that tear line beinglocated in any position that intersects the V-shaped seal line 42 toestablish a particular size mouth for the pouch. For example, if thetear line 46 is located closer to the front edge of the pouch, likeshown in FIG. 7, the width of the mouth of the pouch when the panels aretorn along that tear line will be that shown and designated by the arrowA. If the tear line 46′ is located further from the front edge of thepouch the width of the mouth of the pouch when the panels are torn alongthat tear line will larger as shown and designated by the arrow B. Itshould thus be apparent to those skilled in the art that by using a sealline forming a tapering passageway having a predetermined angle betweenthe legs of that seal line, one can establish a particular size mouth ofthe pouch by appropriately positioning of the tear line so that itintersects the tapering passageway formed by the seal line 42 at aposition to form the desired width mouth. This feature is ofconsiderable importance to tailor the pouch's mouth to the size, e.g.,diameter, of the outlet nozzle of the holding assembly.

Another way of enabling one to establish a desired size mouth for thepouch in lieu of changing the position of the tear line with respect tothe pouch's front edge is to keep the tear line in one position butchange the angle of the tapering passageway (the V-shaped front edgeseal in the exemplary embodiment). This alternative arrangement is shownin FIG. 8, where it can be seen that the notches 44 and superimposedtear line 46 established thereby is in the same position as theleft-most tear line 44 in FIG. 7 to create a pouch with the larger sizemouth B as shown therein. By changing the shape of the V-shaped sealline, so that the angle included by its legs is a smaller angle (such asshown by the phantom lines in FIG. 8), the resulting mouth will be ofthe smaller size mouth A.

Attention will now be directed to FIGS. 1-6 where the details of theholder assembly 26 will now be described. To that end the holderassembly basically comprises a hollow tubular member 48 (FIGS. 1, 2 and5), a retainer member 50 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3), a valve member 50 (FIGS. 1,2 and 4), and a piston cap or cover 54 (FIGS. 2 and 6). The tubularmember 48 can be formed of any suitable material, e.g., polypropylene,and has a cylindrical sidewall 56 and a slightly tapering end wall 58terminating in a tubular extension or outlet nozzle 60 having a centralpassageway 63 extending therethrough. The opposite end of the sidewall56 is open at 64 to provide access to the hollow interior 66 of thetubular member.

The retainer member 50 is a cap-like member that also can be formed ofany suitable material, e.g., polypropylene, and having an end wall witha central opening 68 and a peripheral sidewall 70. The sidewall of theretainer member is disposed on the outlet nozzle 60 of the tubularmember so that the retainer member can hold the valve member in place atthe open free end of the outlet nozzle.

The valve member 52 is a simple shut-off device in the form of planardisk formed of any suitable resilient elastomeric material, e.g.,silicone or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). It includes at least oneopenable slit therein. In the exemplary embodiment the at least one slitis a cross-cut 72 and is located in the center portion of the disk. Thisconstruction is similar to the prior art shut-off valves used in theprior art paper-board tube dispensers discussed above. When the valvemember 52 is mounted on the outlet nozzle 60 of the hollow tubularmember its cross-cut 72 is in alignment with the passageway 62 throughthe outlet nozzle. The opening 68 in the end wall of the retainer member50 exposes the cross-cut 72 of the valve member when the valve member isheld in place by the retainer member. To that end, and preferably, theoutlet 60 nozzle of the tubular member is externally threaded and thesidewall 70 of the retainer member is internally threaded to ensure thatthe retainer member once placed on the outlet nozzle to hold the valvemember in place remains secured to the outlet nozzle.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 6, the piston cap 54 is a generally diskshaped member that can also be formed of any suitable material, e.g.,polypropylene, and has a short flanged peripheral sidewall 74. Theinternal diameter of the peripheral sidewall of the piston cap is of asufficient size to accommodate the piston 30 of the dispensing gun 22.

Turning now back to FIG. 1 the details of the dispensing gun 22 will bedescribed. As mentioned above that gun may be like the prior artdispensing gun produced by Prince-Castle, or any other suitabledispensing gun. To that end, it includes a hollow body 76 in the form ofhalf a cylinder having a front wall 78 including a central opening 80and a rear wall 82. A handle 84 is located at and secured to the rearwall. The trigger 32 is pivotably connected to the handle and is coupledto a conventional mechanism (not shown) for moving the piston each timethe trigger is actuated. To that end, the trigger is configured to bepulled backward, by squeezing the trigger and handle together, whereuponthe piston 30 is moved toward the front wall 78 of the dispensing gun byone increment each time the trigger is squeezed.

The method of using the system 20 will now be described. To that end afilled pouch 24 is preferably placed on a flat surface with the angledsealed end of the pouch facing upward to tap the bottom of the pouchagainst that surface and thereby press excess flowable material out ofthe upper section of the pouch. The upper section of the pouch can thenbe folded along the centerline of the pouch to superimpose the two tearnotches over each other. The pouch is then torn open along thesuperimposed tear lines from the tear notches to the center. This actionwill create a mouth that is any desired size, e.g., approximately 75% to80% of the pouch width, depending upon the position of the tear notchesor the angle of the front edge V-shaped seal line. The open (mouth) endof the pouch can then be inserted through the open end 64 of the tubularmember 48 and positioned so that its mouth is within or at least incommunication with the passageway 62 in the outlet nozzle 60. Theretainer member 50 with the elastomeric valve disk 52 therein is thenscrewed onto the threads of the outlet nozzle 60 of the tubular memberto secure the valve in place. The piston cover 54 is then placed in theopen end 64 of the tubular member 48 to enclose the filled pouch in thehollow interior 66 thereof. This completes the assembly of thecomponents of the holder assembly with the pouch therein. The holderassembly with the pouch therein is then placed within the chamber 28 inthe dispensing gun like shown in FIG. 1. In this position, the outletnozzle 60 of the holder assembly 26 extends through the opening 80 inthe end wall 78 of the dispensing gun, with the piston 30 of thedispensing gun confronting the piston cover 54.

The system is now ready to dispense a metered amount of the flowablematerial P from the pouch. To that end, the trigger 32 of the dispensinggun 22 can be actuated (squeezed) to cause the piston to advance intoengagement with the piston cover 54. Further actuation of the triggerwill move (increment) the piston cover further inward into the interior66 of the tubular member, thereby squeezing the interposed filled pouch,whereupon the flowable material P will be ejected out of the pouch'smouth, through the passageway 62 of the outlet nozzle 60 and intoengagement with the valve member 52. This action will cause the portionsof the valve disk contiguous with the cross-cut 72 to flex outward tothereby open the valve, whereupon a metered amount of the flowablematerial will be ejected out of the opening 68 in the retainer member.Once this has occurred the portions of the valve disk contiguous withthe cross-cut 72 will flex back to their original position, i.e., beingcoplanar, to close the valve and prevent any flowable material fromdripping out. This action can be repeated to dispense further meteredamounts of the flowable material from the pouch until the pouch isempty.

As should be appreciated by those skilled in the art no additionalmechanism, such as a duck-bill valve or other component, is provided inthe dispensing gun to cut off the flow of the flowable material throughthe mouth of the pouch, since such an additional mechanism isunnecessary, i.e., each pull of the trigger ejects a precise meteredamount of the viscous material through the nozzle and its associatedvalve member, without any subsequent oozing or leakage. Accordingly, anydispensing gun suitable for use in the system of this invention can besimple in construction and easy to keep clean.

Once the pouch has been emptied of its contents by repeated actuationsof the trigger, the holder assembly with the empty pouch therein can beremoved from the dispenser gun by moving the piston back to its fullyretracted position and orienting the holder assembly so that it can bewithdrawn from the dispensing gun. If it is desired to reuse the holderassembly it can be prepared for reuse by removing the piston cover toprovide access to the empty pouch within the hollow member. The pouchcan then be removed and discarded and the remainder of the holderassembly disassembled, cleaned and then reassembled for reuse with a newfilled pouch.

It should be pointed out at this juncture that the dispensing gun, theholding assembly and the pouch can be of any particular size, dependingupon the product to be dispensed. For example, a dispensing gun 22constructed as set forth above can accommodate a 1.69 lb. pouch filledwith sour cream. Such a combination can be configured to expel(dispense) approximately 0.25 to 0.5 ounce of product per trigger pull.While any conventional sheet material can be used for the pouch, thatmaterial must be strong enough to resist the application of pressureduring the dispensing process, it must be flexible enough to fill outthe gun's internal volume. Thus, pouches in accordance with thisinvention can be fabricated of any suitable flexible packaging filmmaterial, in single or multiple plies.

In one exemplary embodiment of this invention the two panels 34 of thepouch are formed of a 3.5 MIL polyethylene/PA/polyethylene COEX film,with each panel being 5.6 inch wide by 10.25 inch in length. TheV-shaped seal 42 intersects the side seal 38 and the folded edge 36approximately 1.25 inch from the front edge of the pouch, with thenotches 44 being located approximately 1 inch from the front edge of thepouch. The seal lines 38 and 42 are each approximately 6 mm wide.

It must be pointed out at this juncture that the pouch and the holdingassembly can be constructed differently than the exemplary embodimentsshown and described heretofore. For example, the pouch need not be ofrectangular shape, nor be of the size and/or material(s) as describedabove. The V-shaped end seal which serves to form the mouth not beV-shaped, so long as it includes leg sections which extend at an angleto each other to form a tapering passageway. Thus, the end seal could besemi-circular, oval or any other shape. Moreover, the means for formingthe mouth at the tapering passageway portion of the pouch need not be inthe form of a tear line, e.g., the pouch may be constructed so that itcan be cut or severed, e.g., by a knife or scissors, along a lineintersecting the tapering passageway to establish the desired sizemouth. Further still, while it is preferred that the holder assemblyinclude a valve, use of such a component is not mandatory. If, however,use of a valve is desired, and it is desired that the holder assemblynot include the valve, the flexible package may be constructed toinclude some type of valve at the location of its mouth. Lastly, whilethe use of a piston cover is preferred to help enclose the pouch withinthe tubular member of the holder assembly, such an arrangement is notmandatory and the piston cover can be eliminated, if desired.

Other changes and modifications to the structure and arrangement of thecomponents making up the system of this invention and the method ofdispensing metered amounts of flowable materials in accordance with thisinvention are also contemplated.

Without further elaboration the foregoing will so fully illustrate myinvention that others may, by applying current or future knowledge,adopt the same for use under various conditions of service.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for dispensing metered amounts of aflowable material from a flexible pouch, said system comprising theflexible pouch, a holder assembly, and a dispensing gun, said pouchcomprising a hollow body formed of a flexible sheet material having apair of panels, each of which includes a pair of side edge portions, afront edge portion and a rear edge portion, said panels beingsuperimposed over each other and secured together along their edges toform a hollow interior for the flowable material, with respective frontedge portions of said two panels being secured together by a seal lineshaving legs extending at a predetermined angle to each other to form atapering passageway therebetween, said pouch being configured to beopened by removing a portion of said pouch along respective superimposedlines provided in said panels and intersecting said passageway to form amouth for said pouch, said holder assembly comprising a tubular memberhaving a cylindrical sidewall extending about a hollow interior andfront wall having an outlet nozzle, said tubular holder including anopen rear portion to expose said hollow interior, said pouch beingconfigured for disposition within said tubular holder with said mouth ofsaid pouch located at said outlet nozzle, said dispensing gun comprisinga hollow chamber, a piston and an actuator for moving said piston, saidtubular holder with the pouch therein being configured to be disposed insaid hollow chamber of said dispensing gun, with said piston extendingthrough said open rear end of said tubular holder to engage said pouch,said actuator being configured to move said piston into engagement withsaid pouch to force the flowable material out of said pouch through saidmouth and said outlet nozzle to dispensing a metered amount of theflowable material from said pouch.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein saidholder assembly comprises a valve member.
 3. The system of claim 2wherein said valve member comprises an elastomeric material disk havingat least one slit therein.
 4. The system of claim 2 wherein said holderassembly additionally comprises a retainer member for holding said valvemember in place on said outlet of said tubular member.
 5. The system ofclaim 3 wherein said holder assembly additionally comprises a retainermember for holding said valve member in place on said outlet of saidtubular member.
 6. The system of claim 1 additionally comprising apiston cap for disposition within said open rear portion of said tubularmember to enclose said pouch therein.
 7. The system of claim 4additionally comprising a piston cap for disposition within said openrear portion of said tubular member to enclose said pouch therein. 8.The system of claim 5 additionally comprising a piston cap fordisposition within said open rear portion of said tubular member toenclose said pouch therein.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein saidtubular member is formed of polypropylene.
 10. The system of claim 4wherein said tubular member and said retainer member are each formed ofpolypropylene.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein said tubular member,said retainer member, and said piston cover are each formed ofpolypropylene.
 12. The system of claim 2 wherein said elastomeric diskis formed of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).
 13. The system of claim 1wherein said panels include a pair of aligned notches and wherein saidsuperimposed lines extend between said notches to form tear lines, withsaid pouch being configured to be torn along said tear lines.
 14. Thesystem of claim 2 wherein said panels include a pair of aligned notchesand wherein said superimposed lines extend between said notches to formtear lines, with said pouch being configured to be torn along said tearlines.
 15. The system of claim 3 wherein said panels include a pair ofaligned notches and wherein said superimposed lines extend between saidnotches to form tear lines, with said pouch being configured to be tornalong said tear lines.
 16. A method for dispensing metered amounts of aflowable material from a flexible pouch, said method comprising; a)providing a flexible pouch comprising a hollow body formed of a flexiblesheet material having a pair of panels secured together along theirperiphery and with one portion of the panels being forming a taperingpassageway mouth to the interior of the package, said interior beingfilled with a flowable material; b) removing a portion of the pouchalong a line intersecting the tapering portion to form an open mouth ofa desired size; c) introducing said pouch into an open end of a tubularmember of a holder assembly, said tubular member having a cylindricalsidewall extending about a hollow interior, a front wall having anoutlet nozzle, and an open end opposite said outlet nozzle, whereuponsaid open mouth of said pouch is located at said outlet nozzle; d)introducing said holder assembly into a dispensing gun comprising ahollow chamber, a piston and an actuator for moving said piston; and e)operating said actuator to cause said piston apply pressure to saidpouch to force the flowable material out of said pouch through saidmouth and said outlet nozzle to dispense a metered amount of theflowable material from said pouch.
 17. The method of claim 16 whereinsaid removing a portion of the pouch along a line intersecting thetapering portion to form an open mouth of a desired size is accomplishedby tearing said panels of said pouch along said line.
 18. The method ofclaim 16 and wherein said line is located at a desired preselecteddistance from an end of said pouch to establish a desired size openmouth for said pouch.
 19. The method of claim 17 and wherein said lineis located at a desired preselected distance from an end of said pouchto establish a desired size open mouth for said pouch.
 20. The method ofclaim 16 additionally comprising providing a valve at said outlet nozzleof said tubular member.